American Go E-Journal » 2011 » September

This year’s Portland Go Tournament – set for October 29-30 at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR — will involve no less than four 6-dans, reports organizer Peter Drake. “Guozhong Zhuang, his son Vincent — who recently represented the U.S. in the World Youth Go Championship — Nicholas Zhirad, and Solomon Choe (self-promoting from 5.9),” says Drake. “Lesser dans and single- and double-digit kyu players should also be present in abundance.” The two-day, five-round handicap tournament is the largest annual tournament in Oregon and is again being held at Lewis & Clark College, recently ranked as the second most beautiful campus in the country by the Princeton Review. The tournament director is experimenting with the new software from goclubs.org, which was used successfully at the Tacoma Go Club’s recent Back-To-School tournament. Click here for details on online registration.

To mark their 16th anniversary, the Seattle Go Center had a party on Sept. 10, and a tournament on Sept 17. About 40 people came to the party, which featured sushi, fresh bread from longtime local organizer Chris Kirschner, a go game cake by Vicki Wheeler, a silent auction, and a mesmerizing koto concert by Shiho Kurauchi and Chiyusa Kitai. All the music had been composed since 1970. The next Saturday, 12 players competed in three sections. Both dan winners were new arrivals to Seattle. First place went to Yu Zhou, a high school student from China playing his first AGA games, while Daniel Poore from Washington D.C. placed 2nd. The upper kyu section was won by Brian Allen, with Frank Brown 2nd. The lower kyu section was won by youth player Josh Hall, with Anne Thompson 2nd. Photo/report by Brian Allen

In a nail-biting game, Matthew Macfadyen beat Nick Krempel on September 17 in London to retain the title of British Go Champion. “In an exciting third and deciding game, Macfadyen killed a group early on and held on against everything Nick Krempel could throw at him,” reports Tony Atkins. “Eventually Nick had to resign allowing Matthew to be champion for another year.” Game records of the championship match are available in the KGS Archives. Other recent news from the British tournament scene is available here.

With 22 dan players lined up on their team, it came as no surprise that the Strasbourg Go Club kept the French Champion title last Sunday, September 25 at the Master Lim Cup. Motoki Noguchi 6d, Thomas Debarre 6d, Frédéric Donzet 5d and Antoine Fenech 5d led Strasbourg and only Nantes and Toulouse managed to score a win with the defeat of Donzet against Desvaux and Noguchi against Fan (see the game record below).

The ninth edition of the Master Lim Cup was considered a success in all respects, with no less than 14 teams present in Piriac-sur-Mer, and the clubs sending their best players to fight under the bright sun, including François Mizessyn, Alain Kerbrat, Bernard Helmstetter, Toru Imamura-

Strasbourg, Grenoble, Toulouse, Dijon and Nantes have already qualified for the 2012 edition of the Cup; the other clubs will have to participate in the regional qualifications first.– report/photo by Alain Cano, French Correspondent for the E-Journal

An otherwise normal game in the main tournament of the 39th Myeongin has become a sensation. This is because amateur go player, Cho Insun 7D, just turned pro under the Korean Baduk Association’s new points system. On September 20, 2011, Cho Insun began his Myeongin game with Park Jeonggeun 4P in more or less the usual way. However, he knew that if he won the game he would be allowed to turn professional. And so did everyone else. Despite the pressure and anticipation of others, Cho played an excellent game, grabbing a win as well as the points he needed to take his tally to the crucial number, 100. Under the new system, amateur players can accumulate points for performing well in the professional tournaments that allow amateurs to qualify and compete. Some examples of these are the LG Cup, the Samsung Cup and, of course, the Myeongin. Cho is the first player to reach 100 points under this system and become pro. Perhaps his story will inspire other aspiring amateurs worldwide? Congratulations Cho Insun 1P.

All donations made to the Seattle Go Center in the month of September will be matched by another donor, reported Manager Brian Allen at the Center’s 16th anniversary party. “Our anonymous benefactor will match donations up to a total of $10,000”, he said. Some donors may also trigger matching grants from their employers, since the Go Center is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit. Center supporters can donate online using the website donation page: donate. Now that the downstairs of their building is rented out, the Go Center has been gradually increasing programming and outreach, often with volunteer help. The Seattle Center is open 5 days a week; two days a week for classes, and three days a week for games and informal lessons. It is also open on Sundays for tournaments about twice a month. “This is a great time to support the Center and help us get back to teaching and promoting go full time” noted Allen. Photo: Dennis Wheeler plays out a famous game with M&M’s on a cake for the Go Center Anniversary Party.Photo/report by Brian Allen

E-Journal reader Michael Albert spotted go in Fist of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection), the 1972 Hong Kong martial arts film starring Bruce Lee in his second major film. “When a scene came up with a go board in it, I was a little skeptical at first,” says Albert, “but then after reviewing the scene a couple times — and watching to go board get thrown at someone’s face — I realized that I was seeing the real deal. A previous scene shows to people placing stones on the board. I can’t tell you if they were playing a real game or just placing random stones on the board.”

The American Go Association will host a qualifier on KGS this weekend for the Second Qiong-Long-Shan World Women Championship. China is hosting the Qiong-Long-Shan Championship October 8-14. Sixteen strongest female players throughout the world are being invited to attend in Suzhou China. Top prize is RMB 200,000 (about $30,000). Prize per game is RMB 6,000.

The AGA will host a qualifier on KGS this weekend. All female players with ratings above 5.0 are welcome. AGA membership and US citizenship are required (UPDATE: green card holders are now eligible!) except for CGA representatives. Web camera and KGS accounts are required. The tournament will be during September 25-28 with flexible schedule as long as both players agree, otherwise players must be available to play 3 rounds on 8 PM ET/5 PT on 9/26, 9/27 and 9/28. Basic time is 1 hour. Overtime is 5 periods of 1 minute.

Piao Wenyao 9P won the 13th Ahan Tongshan Cup yesterday, defeating Chen Yaoye 9P in the final (on September 20, 2011). The Ahan Tongshan Cup is a rapid tournament in China, which is also sometimes referred to as the Agon Cup, because it shares a sponsor with the Japanese Agon-Kiriyama Cup. The time allowed for play is slightly unusual, with players receiving 30 seconds per move and 10 x 60 second byo yomi periods. The byo yomi can be used if the players need more than 30 seconds on a particular move. Those who follow professional go may recall that Piao also won the 15th LG Cup, in February 2011.